Monday, 16 December 2013

If you want to
teach someone to swim there’s certainly no harm in explaining the basics to
them and giving them an idea of what to expect, but when it comes down to it
there’s no substitute for getting in the water.

In fact,
explaining nothing and giving them a shove is often the best method. Certainly
the quickest.

Will they
panic and flail around making things worse? Most likely, yes. But they’ll figure
it out. They won’t drown (even if it feels like they’re going to).

With writing—and
pretty much everything else—preparation only gets you to the edge of the
swimming pool. The rest you can only learn by diving in.

Monday, 2 December 2013

If you happen to be feeling very
motivated and enthusiastic about your story, then sitting down and writing it
isn’t going to be a problem.

When you’re writing as fast as
you can and all synapses are firing you really don’t need any particular
structure or technique to your process. You write until you can’t write
anymore, and then you get up the next day and do it again.

In a perfect world with plenty of
free time and no distractions there would be no excuse for not getting those
words onto the page. But things don’t always work out that way and most of us
find plenty of reasons to give up and watch TV instead.

One method you might find useful
if, like me, you’re not always delighted by the prospect of sitting at the
computer with no end in sight, is to set yourself deadlines. Not just one, but
many.